Beauty, Mercy, Justice

The Field Trip

I accompanied my 7 year old Cub Scout, Michael, on a field trip the other night. I usually work too late to attend his Scout meetings, but it was my day off. Not that I am eager for the awkward moment when they recite the Pledge of Allegiance. We stand in the back, silently trying to avoid attention.

The field trip was to the local police station. Two friendly officers greeted us, and after an introduction showed us around. They took us to the holding cell, telling the children “Don’t touch anything. Really bad people stay here and they are dirty.” I heard the one cop tell a woman that he had worked for a while in a county jail, and that “Those are not human beings. Those are animals.”

My heart sunk at this, and I was glad my son didn’t hear it. This did not erode my belief that even the incarcerated are in fact human, but it did raise doubts about the humanity of certain police officers.

After the initial tour we were taken outside, where a cruiser was parked. The scouts were allowed to operate the radar gun, taking the speeds of passing cars, and to use the siren, which scared a couple of motorists into pulling over. They also used the loudspeaker. When it was Michael’s turn, he said “THIS IS A VIOLATION!” which got a good laugh.

Then we returned to the station, where the children tried on bulletproof vests and then were shown the gun room. I was a little stunned to learn that my local police have a rack of fully automatic weapons; probably twenty or so. I knew the military had such things, but had no idea that local cops did. I wonder what, short of a zombie apocalypse, they are anticipating.

Surely this should sober our militant gun enthusiasts, who respond to any attempt to limit assault weapons with the declaration that the Second Amendment exists so that citizens can resist a tyrannical government.

Good luck with that. Bringing your semiautomatic, with a 30 round clip to a conflict with these guys is like the bringing the proverbial knife to a gun fight.

And that is not even considering taking on the feds, with their even deadlier weapons and drones.

For secular society, all human life is NOT equal. We have failed, at least for the last 40 years, to eliminate prejudice. May our children have better luck in this. But somehow, I do not believe those on the extreme left, who hate humanity for our effect on the environment; and those on the extreme right, who hate humanity for our effect on their greed, will allow it.